Connect Marketing to Business Strategy

JWI 518 Marketing in a Global Environment, Week 11 Wrap up, 12/21/12

This class gave a great foundation to the discipline of marketing and marketing strategy. This course is designed to help students connect business strategy to marketing, think like a CEO, create superior value for customers and build something new.

We began with product strategy and examined ways to understand the broader market through market surveys. Market segmentation techniques help to analyze markets and identify the most attractive segments. Finally, we learned to create a marketing plan, figuring out how to strategically market the product or service using brand positioning, brand equity, pricing, elements of marketing communication and state-of-art social media tools.

I now understand the role and importance of marketing - an art and a science - in the firm, and balance costs and benefits to customers.

Takeaways include:
(i) Role of marketing in a firm
Identify needs, wants, interests of target customers
satisfy more effectively and efficiently than competitors
while preserving or enhancing consumers' and society's long-term well-being
(ii) 4 key marketing dimensions - Performance (&quality), People, Planet, Price
While competing on product performance and price metrics, seek also to balance people (social cost) and planet (environmental cost) needs.
(iii) marketing begins with understanding the customer - research the market and offer superior customer value
(iv) marketing is an art and a science
(v) It is not just about parading the features in front of the customer. To persuade:
Know the firm's own market offering + next best alternative + how the offering delivers superior value to customers vs next best alternative
(vi) There are 4 ways to conduct a survey but beware the limitations. Don't just go by what people say but by what they do - check if they will put the money where their mouth is eg. GE green bulb fiasco
(vii) Know the buyer's motivations and understand how to motivate them (this is the foundation for any marketing strategy). People buy anticipated satisfactions, not just the products. The primary underlying thought in buyers’ minds is this: “What’s in it for me?” Remind buyers of some key satisfactions they want to achieve. Promise you can make it happen. Then Highlight the key features of the product or service
(viii) Generate demand through marketing - convey a compelling reason why people should buy a product or service from the firm
(ix) Segment the market - Broad segments typically are geographic, demographic, psychographic (Values, Attitudes, Lifestyles) and behavioral. Then decide firm's market focus: Niche within a segment, segment, multiple segments or mass market.
(x) Market positioning - create an image in the market that your product is the best and grab market share
(xi) Brand Equity is the added value a brand image gives to a product or service
(xii) To set prices effectively, follows these steps: (1) know the firm's strategic market objective, (2) determine demand, (3) estimate costs, (4) analyze competitor's costs, prices and offers, and (5) pick a compelling pricing strategy - including pricing method and final price.
(xiii) Lower perceived cost; Increase perceived value
(xiv) Bear in mind the Product's Life Cycle and Buyer Readiness & Adoption process
(xv) Integrated marketing communication: AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire to own, Action to Buy
(xvi) Use Net Promoter Score (NPS) - 'how likely are you to recommend the brand to your friend?" - to drive growth
(xvii) Beware social media wild fires but experiment with them
(xvii) Optimize marketing mix for B2B and B2C
(xviii) Earn customer loyalty through transfer of intellectual capital that positions the customer to win
(xix) 5 Ms of advertising - Mission, Money, Media, Message, Measurement
(xx) Cause related marketing can help local firms differentiate their offering and win

Dr DP